Daily Times

DADU: Measles and gastroenteritis outbreak is feared among children in Dadu district, as three children suffering from measles and more than 30 children having gastroenteritis were brought from different villages to the Civil Hospital Dadu on Tuesday.

Despite increasing number of ailing children, there are no facilities at the biggest hospital of the district. The patients had to suffer due to lack of facilities at the hospital, while absence of doctors added to their miseries.

According to details, three children of measles – three-year-old boy Asad Mallah, a resident of KN Shah Town; five-year-old Kainat Jamali, a resident of Dadu city; and Hina Majeed Panhwar, a resident of Johi Town – were brought to the hospital on Tuesday.

According to hospital authorities, 30 children suffering from gastroenteritis were also brought to the same hospital. The patients included Ujala Gohar Laghari, Arshad Ranjhan Khoso, Fatima Hussan, Farhana, Imran and Muhammad Waseen.

Abdul Majeed, a resident of Johi Town, said that his daughter Hina was suffering from measles and admitted to the hospital the other day, but no doctor was available in the Civil Hospital’s Paediatric Ward. He said that all doctors in Dadu had taken a day off on the death anniversary of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, while dispensers of the hospital were looking after patients.

Another resident of KN Shah Town, Ali Bux Mallah, the father of Asad, said that his son was admitted two days ago in the Paediatric Ward of the hospital, but patients had not received free medicines, while attendants had to buy medicines from medical stores. He said that he had appealed to the MS of the hospital to provide him free medicines but he ignored his plea.

A resident of Johi Town, Amna, the mother of Fatima said that Dadu Civil Hospital’s Paediatric Ward had a 20-bed capacity, while more than 100 patients were admitted there. She said in three children were being accommodated on a single bed. She also complained about the load shedding at the facility, saying that patients were suffering more due to hot weather conditions. She urged the authorities concerned to provide them basic facilities at the hospital.

A dispenser at the ward, Adnan, told this scribe many children were being brought to the Dadu Civil Hospital, and that all kinds of facilities were being provided to them.

However, when this scribe visited the hospital’s Paediatric Ward, no doctor was present there. When tried to contact Surgeon Dr Insaf Mangsi for her version, he did not attend the phone calls despite repeated attempts.